Hard bop jazz.Mr. Clark was a wonderful piano player and composer.It was really happening around the time I was born, but I didn’t get there until nearly 30 years later.

In fact, I am sure the first time I ever heard “Cool Struttin’” – it was already the CD edition (’86? ’87?).It is literally the quintessential hard bop jazz record, a favorite among Japanese fans / collectors.Perfect music for sitting in a Tokyo coffee bar, leafing through old issues of Swing Journal, as the rain pours outside.And the CD edition is groovy – it has two more songs from the original session added to the already superlative release.

Sometimes, when CD’s were made of original Blue Note releases, the compilers added relevant tracks – and sometimes, those were only alternate takes of existing tracks (which can sometime be of great interest)…but I really like the ‘extra’ tracks on “Cool Struttin’”.

I have listed Clark’s first four Blue Note releases chronologically.The “Standards” collection was assembled in the 80’s – from out-takes, single tracks etc.A neat collection.I must try and find Clark’s final release before his premature death, “Leapin’ and Lopin’”.

Some people will be most interested in “Sonny’ Crib” – as the tenor sax player is JohnColtrane.But I like any album with Sonny Clark ‘originals’!

But I recommend that you try “Cool Struttin’” – like Miles Davis’ “Kind Of Blue”, it’s a one-in-a-million jazz album.Accessible, yet pushing the boundaries of the genre (hard bop jazz).Once heard, never forgotten.

Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius are the two musicians most closely associated with Cluster. They worked extensively with producer Conrad Plank; if you add Michael Rother, the band becomes “Harmonia” (who had two very nice albums).

Originally, the band was known as Kluster – and featured an additional member, Conrad Schnitzler. I have at least two albums by this version of the band (“Klopfzeichen” and “Zwei-Osterei”). One side of each album has somebody talking in German, the other side = nice instrumental electronic music!

How did I get interested? There was a definitely wave of experimental rock music from Germany that was fairly easy to come up with in Los Angeles. One could buy Faust, Amon Duul II & Can albums almost anywhere, in the 70’s. I started with “Cluster II” – I liked the Brain label, and it has the most astonishing cover artwork! You can always see (even from across a room) if someone has “Cluster II” in their LP collection!

The debut album is very noisy indeed; “Cluster II” a little ‘spacier’; compared to the other two, “Zuckerzeit” ( = “Sugar Time”) is positively ‘beat’ driven.

After the three wonderfully noisy electronic albums listed above (my favorites!) – they made more records, and eventually released a few albums as “Cluster & Eno” (records that did not interest me at the time; I suppose I should try them again). I understand they have been performing again in 2007 and 2008.

German space rock is not my favorite genre at present, but I thought enough of these three albums to get CD’s of them. I hadn’t heard the 1st Cluster album in years – I found my German original LP of it in Australia, in 1987, for A$1.

I got onto Nine Days Wonder by having a ‘free of charge’ promo copy of their debut LP sent to me from Germany!I got the ‘fish head’ cover first, and the puffy green cover later.I played it to death!It reminded me of Frank Zappa – it was fun music!Every now and again, I find myself singing “Moss Had Come” to myself, and it’ll take a few minutes to remember what it is…

And they had some really great song titles: “The Undershirt of Time” etc.

I liked them very much about ’73 – ’74…and was delighted when a member (or members?) of Van Der Graaf Generator appeared on their 3rd LP, “Only The Dancers” (was it David Jackson?).

For whatever reason, I never warmed to their 4th album – “Sonnet To Billy Frost” – I must take it out again and give it a listen.Whenever I went to Germany, I always used to buy “one more NDW CD”.“Sonnet…” is their only LP I don’t have on CD!

I don’t remember where or how I found out about Wintergarden – but I could clearly see that the singer OF NDW was present.A friend in England recently told me that he ran into, I think it was the NDW bass player, at a music show, somewhere in the north of England.So, some of them were British and some were German.

So, thanks for the music, guys.It’s been a part of my soul for 30+ years.

I recently ‘special ordered’ the Jimmie Driftwood 3CD boxed set, from Down Home Music in El Cerrito.I’d never seen I for sale anywhere, and I knew they could get it for me.

A few years back, I took a real interest in ‘American roots music’ of the 50’s / 60’s – a lot of country & western music, too.Driftwood seems to straddle this invisible line.It’s a neat trick that he seems to have writing credits for a lot of songs that I thought were ‘public domain’ (i.e. traditional) songs.But – he’s not in the slightest bit disingenuous.

Credited with being the author of “The Ballad of New Orleans” (Johnny Horton had the hit with it) – Mr. Driftwood started making LP’s in 1957.The booklet of the boxed set told me a lot I didn’t know about Mr. Driftwood – his real name was James Morris.He lived in the Ozarks most of his life, and was a keen philanthropist.He lived to be 91 years old (1907 – 1998).It is said he got the nickname ‘Jimmie Driftwood’ because at the time he was born, his grandpa played a prank, handing someone a blanket with a piece of wood in it – “Here’s yer baby!”.

Driftwood’s other famous ‘writing credit” is for the “Tennessee Stud”.Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed have a dynamite version of it.

When I listen to his stuff, I feel like I’ve heard the songs before – indeed, I may have.Did I hear those songs in elementary school?Or in cartoons?I like his ‘cornball’ voice, the Chet Atkins ‘production’, the songs.

The CD boxed set only covers his 6 RCA LP’s – but I have his two later LP’s on Monument – I was never quite sure if the “Best Of” was later re-recordings or what.

So – to go with your Grandpa Jones and Minnie Pearl records, enjoy some Jimmie Driftwood!